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Preview: Newcastle v Sunderland

Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby will be the 147th clash between the two local rivals.

Sunday’s game will be Paolo Di Canio’s second game in charge of Sunderland after last weekend’s narrow defeat at Chelsea.

Whilst Sunday will be the Italian’s first derby, it will be Newcastle boss Alan Pardew’s fifth and the former Reading boss is yet to taste defeat with three draws and one victory in his four encounters with the Wearsiders.

Earlier this season the two sides played out a 1-1 draw at the Stadium of Light with a Demba Ba own goal cancelling out a Yohan Cabaye strike for the visitors.

The form book suggests another draw is unlikely as the two rivals haven’t drawn both league games in a campaign for 23 years.

In the previous 146 encounters between the two sides Newcastle just edge the head-to-head with 53 wins compared to Sunderland’s 44; there have 49draws.

Sunderland are without Craig Gardner for the clash after the former Birmingham man picked up his tenth yellow card of the season at Chelsea last Sunday.

Lee Cattermole, Wes Brown and leading scorer Steven Fletcher are the long term absentees for the Black Cats.

MATCH STATS:

Shola Ameobi is the top scoring player in the Tyne-Wear derby in the Premier League era (7 goals) - Kevin Phillips and Kevin Nolan are next on four each.

There have been five red cards in the last five league meetings between Newcastle and Sunderland; with four of these being given to the Black Cats.

The away side has netted exactly once in eight of the last nine meetings between Newcastle and Sunderland, including the last seven in a row.